{{Short description|American Jewish agency and wire service}} {{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox company | name = Jewish Telegraphic Agency | logo = Jewish Telegraphic Agency - Logo (Initialism, Black on Yellow).png | caption = | type = [[Subsidiary]] | traded_as = | genre = <!-- Only used with media and publishing companies --> | fate = | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = {{Start date and age|1917|02|06}} | founder = [[Jacob Landau (publisher)|Jacob Landau]] | defunct = | location_city = [[New York City]] | location_country = United States | location = | locations = | area_served = Worldwide | key_people = Ami Eden, CEO and executive editor <br> Philissa Cramer, editor-in-chief | industry = [[News media]] | products = [[Wire service]]<ref>{{cite news|author=Joe Sterling|title=Jewish paper's column catches Secret Service's eye|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/21/us/jewish-president-threat/index.html|access-date=October 14, 2013|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=January 22, 2012}}</ref> | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = <!-- Only used with financial services companies --> | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = [[70 Faces Media]] | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = {{official URL}} | footnotes = }} The '''Jewish Telegraphic Agency''' ('''JTA''') is an international [[news agency]] and wire service that primarily covers [[Judaism]]- and [[Jews|Jewish]]-related topics and news. Described as the "[[Associated Press]] of the Jewish media", JTA serves Jewish and non-Jewish newspapers and press around the world as a syndication partner. Founded in 1917,<ref>Josef Fraenkel gives the "official date" of JTA's founding as December 3, 1919 (Fraenkel, "Fascinating Backgrounding [sic] of Founding of JTA," ''[[The Jewish News (Detroit)|Detroit Jewish News]],'' [https://digital.bentley.umich.edu/djnews/djn.1968.02.23.001/13 Feb. 23, 1968, 13]).</ref> it is the [[world Jewry]]'s oldest and most widely-read wire service. JTA's parent company is [[70 Faces Media]].
==History== The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was founded in [[The Hague]], Netherlands, as the first Jewish [[news agency]] and wire service, then known as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau on February 6, 1917, by 25-year old [[Jacob Landau (publisher)|Jacob Landau]].<ref name="Landau obit">{{cite news |title=Jacob Landau, Founder of Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Dies in N.Y. |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/jacob-landau-founder-of-jewish-telegraphic-agency-dies-in-n-y |access-date=August 9, 2023 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=February 1, 1952}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-TsJl5tojMC&dq=%22Jewish+Telegraphic+agency%22+1917&pg=PA123 |isbn=9780819141262 |title=Israel's Impact, 1950-51: A Personal Record |year=1984 |publisher=University Press of America |page=123}}</ref> Its mandate was to collect and disseminate news affecting the Jewish communities around the world,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A808AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA182 |title=American Jewish Year Book |year=1920 |author=American Jewish Committee, Jewish Publication Society of America |access-date=June 30, 2011 |page=182}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCiwUyWDBu4C&pg=PA91 |title=Religion and our divided denominations |year=1971 |author=Willard Learoyd Sperry |publisher=Books for Libraries Press |isbn=9780836922011 |page=91|access-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Guide to YIVO Archives">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5DuagGR8RNsC&pg=PA143 |title=Guide to the YIVO Archives |year=1998 |editor1=Fruma Mohrer |editor2=Marek Web |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=9780765601308 |page=143 |access-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E8qqhylTDZYC&pg=PA490 |title=Deutsches Judentum unter dem Nationalsozialismus |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |date=1998 |author=Otto Dov Kulka |isbn=9783161472671 |page=490 |access-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref> especially from the European World War I fronts.<ref name="Sarna">{{cite book |url=http://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/pdfs/publications/American%20Jewish%20Press%20-%20Oxford%20Handbook.pdf |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media |author=Jonathan D. Sarna |chapter=The American Jewish Press |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=544 |access-date=April 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054528/http://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/pdfs/publications/American%20Jewish%20Press%20-%20Oxford%20Handbook.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|date=May 13, 1927|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1927/05/13/117990769.html|title=Rumania Halts Landau; Efforts of New Yorker Frees Jewish Telegraph Agency Head.|magazine=NYTimes}}</ref> In 1919, it moved to London, under its current name.<ref name="Guide to YIVO Archives" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AceeVqhPHtcC&pg=PA476 |title=Isaiah Berlin; Letters, 1928–1946 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |author1=Isaiah Berlin |author2=Henry Hardy |isbn=9780521833684 |page=476 |access-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://leobaeck.oxfordjournals.org/content/54/1/219.short |title=Diplomacy in the Diaspora: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Berlin (1922–1933) |work=Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook|date=2009 |author=Verena Dohrn |access-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref>
In 1922, the JTA moved its global headquarters to New York City.<ref name="Guide to YIVO Archives" /> By 1925, over 400 newspapers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, subscribed to the JTA.<ref name="Oxford Handbook">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCCja27G0AAC&dq=%22Jewish+Telegraphic+agency%22+1917&pg=PA544 |isbn=978-0-19-539506-8 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media |date=September 6, 2012 |publisher=Oup USA |page=544}}</ref>
In November 1937, the [[Gestapo]] (the secret police of [[Nazi Germany]]) closed JTA's Berlin bureau, charging it with "endangering public safety and order."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/11/13/94459354.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=Reich Police Close a U.S. News Bureau; Charge the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Sent Reports Abroad in Violation of Agreement|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
In 1940, the JTA spawned the Overseas News Agency (ONA).<ref>{{cite news |publisher=JTA |date=July 14, 1940 |title=Overseas News Agency Launched |url=https://www.jta.org/1940/07/14/archive/overseas-news-agency-launched}}</ref> Although designed to appear like a normal news agency, it was in fact secretly funded by the British [[intelligence service]] [[MI6]].<ref name="Grisar">{{cite news |author=PJ Grisar |title=Sharks Defending Britain From Nazis? How 'Fake News' Helped Foil Hitler |url=https://forward.com/culture/412422/sharks-defending-britain-from-nazis-how-fake-news-helped-foil-hitler/ |newspaper=[[The Forward]] |date=October 22, 2018}}</ref> ONA provided [[press credentials]] to British spies, and planted [[fake news]] stories in US newspapers.<ref name="Grisar" /> [[Meyer Levin]] was a [[war correspondent]] in Europe during World War II, representing the Overseas News Agency and the JTA.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/03/books/the-life-of-meyer-levin.html|title=The Life of Meyer Levin |first=Daniel|last=Fuchs|date=January 3, 1982|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/11/obituaries/meyer-levin-writer-75-dies-books-included-compulsion.html|title=Meyer Levin, Writer, 75, Dies; Books Included 'Compulsion'|first=Herbert|last=Mitgang|date=July 11, 1981|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
Its cable service improved the quality and range of Jewish periodicals.<ref name="Sarna" /><ref name="Oxford Handbook" /> Today, it has correspondents in [[Washington, DC]], [[Jerusalem]], Moscow, and 30 other cities in North and South America, Israel, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The JTA is committed to covering news of interest to the Jewish community with [[journalistic objectivity|journalistic detachment]].<ref name="Sarna" />
As of 2014, JTA had a budget of $2 million.<ref name="JTA Merge My Jewish Learning">{{cite news |last1=Guttman |first1=Nathan |title=JTA To Merge With My Jewish Learning To Create New Jewish Platform |url=https://forward.com/news/breaking-news/190868/jta-to-merge-with-my-jewish-learning-to-create-new/ |access-date=November 1, 2023 |work=[[The Forward]] |date=January 14, 2014}}</ref>
In 2015, the news service merged with Jewish education website MyJewishLearning to create [[70 Faces Media]], the largest Jewish media group in North America. MyJewishLearning was founded in 2003 and hosted more than 5,000 articles about Jewish life history, culture, and education.<ref name="JTA MJL merge" /><ref name="JTA Merge My Jewish Learning" /> Other sister publications are [[Kveller]], Alma, Nosher and [[New York Jewish Week]].
== Staff == Landau, JTA's original publisher, later founded ''The Palestine Bulletin'', an English-language broadsheet published in [[Mandatory Palestine]] in 1925. ''The Palestine Bulletin'' became ''The Palestine Post'' and eventually ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]''.<ref name="Birnhack">{{cite book |author=Michael D. Birnhack |title=Colonial Copyright: Intellectual Property in Mandate Palestine |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-163719-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLAdYH0K6CYC&pg=PT254}}</ref>
Journalist [[Daniel Schorr]] began his career as an assistant news editor for the JTA from 1934 to 1941.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/27/archives/controversial-reporter-daniel-louis-schorr.html |title=Controversial Reporter |first=Martin |last=Arnold |date=February 27, 1976 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/27/arts/daniel-schorr-weighs-merits-of-cable-tv.html |title=Daniel Schorr Weighs Merits of Cable TV |first=Peter W. |last=Kaplan |date=February 27, 1985 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/business/media/24schorr.html |title=Daniel Schorr, Journalist, Dies at 93 |first=Robert D. Jr. |last=Hershey |date=July 23, 2010 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
[[Haskell Cohen]] was the sports editor for the JTA for 17 years; he is best known for later as the [[NBA]] director of public relations creating the [[NBA All Star Game]] in 1951.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/03/sports/haskell-cohen-86-publicist-created-nba-all-star-game.html |title=Haskell Cohen, 86, Publicist; Created N.B.A. All-Star Game |first=Richard |last=Goldstein |date=July 3, 2000 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> [[Harold U. Ribalow]] was later the sports editor of the JTA.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/26/obituaries/harold-u-ribalow-writer-on-jewish-themes.html |title=Harold U. Ribalow, Writer on Jewish Themes |date=October 26, 1982 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> In the 1960s, novelist and lawyer [[Eleazar Lipsky]] was the JTA's president.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/15/arts/eleazar-lipsky-81-a-prosecutor-lawyer-novelist-and-playwright.html |title=Eleazar Lipsky, 81, a Prosecutor, Lawyer, Novelist and Playwright |first=Eric |last=Pace |date=February 15, 1993 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/08/30/archives/bridge-of-sighs-due-on-broadway-exdistrict-attorneys-play-reflects.html |title='Bridge of Sighs' Due on Broadway; Ex-District Attorney's Play Reflects His Experiences |first=Sam |last=Zolotow |date=August 30, 1966 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
[[Lillie Shultz]], later a journalist and the chief administrative officer of the [[American Jewish Congress]], was a staff member of the JTA in the early 1930s.<ref name="AJC 1982">{{Cite book |last1=Himmelfarb |first1=Milton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NcsjRyNtUogC&q=%22Shultz%2C+Lillie%22 |title=American Jewish Year Book |last2=Singer |first2=David |date=1982 |publisher=American Jewish Committee |isbn=978-0-8276-0221-2 |page=363 |language=en}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=NcsjRyNtUogC&q=%22commission+for+investigation+of+economic+discrimination+against+Jews%2C+1933-44%22]</ref><ref name="Shultz obit">{{Cite news |date=April 16, 1981 |title=Lillie Shultz Dead at 77 |url=https://www.jta.org/1981/04/16/archive/lillie-shultz-dead-at-77 |access-date=January 20, 2021 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref>
===Editors-in-Chief=== [[Boris Smolar]] joined the JTA in 1924, and retired as its editor-in chief in 1967.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/14/obituaries/boris-smolar-retired-editor-of-jewish-telegraphic-agency.html |title=Boris Smolar, Retired Editor of Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=February 14, 1986 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
In January 2020, Philissa Cramer, co-founder and editor-at-large of nonprofit news organization [[Chalkbeat]] was named JTA's editor-in-chief. Cramer replaced Andy Silow-Carroll, who took the same post at ''[[New York Jewish Week]]'' in mid-2019 after three years at the helm.<ref name="Cramer">{{cite news |title=Philissa Cramer named editor in chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency |url=https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/jta/philissa-cramer-named-editor-in-chief-of-the-jewish-telegraphic-agency/article_67f77f72-2ec2-56c2-a96b-7134a7a84279.html |access-date=November 1, 2023 |work=[[Cleveland Jewish News]] |date=January 14, 2020}}</ref>
== Editorial policy and reputation== The JTA is a [[not-for-profit corporation]] governed by an independent board of directors. It is apolitical and non-denominational in its coverage of Judaism and Jewish-related topics. According to editor-in-chief and CEO and publisher Ami Eden, JTA "respects the many Jewish and Israel advocacy organizations out there, but JTA has a different mission: to provide readers and clients with balanced and dependable reporting". He cited JTA's coverage of the [[MV Mavi Marmara|''Mavi Marmara'' activist ship]].<ref name="Forward 2013-06-28">{{cite news |last=Nathan-Kazis |first=Josh |title=Fledgling Jewish News Service Rocks Boat With Strident Pro-Israel Message |url=https://forward.com/news/israel/179453/fledgling-jewish-news-service-rocks-boat-with-stri/ |access-date=June 28, 2013 |newspaper=[[The Forward]]}}</ref><ref name="JTA Merge My Jewish Learning" /> JTA is an affiliate of [[70 Faces Media]], a not-for-profit American media company.<ref name="JTA MJL merge">{{Cite news |url=https://www.jta.org/2015/01/05/united-states/jta-and-mjl-merge-to-create-70-faces-media |title=JTA and MJL merge to create 70 Faces Media |date=January 5, 2015 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US |access-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref>
JTA is considered the "[[Associated Press]] of Jewish media". JTA's main competitor is the more conservative [[Jewish News Syndicate]], launched in 2011.<ref name="Forward 2013-06-28" /> JTA is still [[world Jewry]]'s oldest and most widely-read wire service.<ref name="JTA Merge My Jewish Learning" /> According to journalist and author Stephen Schwartz, JTA is "a news service respected for its professionalism and independence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first1=Stephen |title=Is It Good for the Jews?: The Crisis of America's Israel Lobby |date=2006 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |isbn=978-0385510257 |page=235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_tOtSvAukUC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=September 17, 2025}}</ref>
In 1933, [[Nobel Prize]] winner [[Albert Einstein]] said in a speech at a dinner in his honor that the JTA was "very close to my heart", and that the JTA was keeping the public informed about the lot of the Jews in all countries: "in a graphic and objective manner, and in so doing it has performed an important service ..."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/03/16/99298583.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |title=Address of Dr. Einstein at Dinner in His Honor Here |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
In March 1942, in connection with its 25th anniversary the JTA received congratulatory messages from U.S. [[President Franklin D. Roosevelt]] ("I trust through long decades to come that this medium of information will serve the world with fidelity and courage by the widest possible dissemination of the truth") as well as [[U.S. Secretary of War]] [[Henry Stimson]], British Ambassador [[Lord Halifax]], Director of the [[United States Office of War Information|U.S. Office of War Department of Facts and Figures]] [[Archibald MacLeish]], Director of the U.S. Office of Government Reports [[Lowell Mellett]], and [[Benjamin V. Cohen]] of the U.S. National Power Policy Committee.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/03/26/85298026.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |title=Jewish News Agency Marks 25th Year; Gets Messages From the President and Other Notables |work=The New York Times}}</ref>
== Notable interviews ==
* [[Julia Haart]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hanau |first=Shira |date=July 15, 2021 |title=Julia Haart has a message for 'My Unorthodox Life' critics: Watch before you judge me |url=https://www.jta.org/2021/07/15/culture/julia-haart-has-a-message-for-my-unorthodox-life-critics-watch-before-you-judge-me |access-date=June 1, 2023 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hanau |first=Shira |date=July 16, 2021 |title='My Unorthodox Life' Star Julia Haart Tells Us Why She's Sharing Her Story |url=https://www.kveller.com/my-unorthodox-life-star-julia-haart-tells-us-why-shes-sharing-her-story/ |access-date=June 1, 2023 |website=Kveller |language=en}}</ref> * [[Melissa Rosenberg]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schleier |first=Curt |date=March 22, 2018 |title=The creator of Netflix's 'Jessica Jones' is becoming a feminist icon in the #MeToo era |url=https://www.jta.org/2018/03/22/united-states/creator-netflixs-jessica-jones-becoming-feminist-icon-metoo-era |access-date=June 1, 2023 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=The Creator of Netflix's 'Jessica Jones' Is Becoming a Feminist Icon |language=en |work=Haaretz |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2018-03-26/ty-article/the-creator-of-netflixs-jessica-jones-is-becoming-a-feminist-icon/0000017f-db52-df62-a9ff-dfd77eb70000 |access-date=June 1, 2023}}</ref> * [[Idina Menzel]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Disney+ documentary traces Idina Menzel's rise, from bat mitzvah circuit to Broadway |newspaper=The Times of Israel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/disney-documentary-traces-idina-menzels-rise-from-bat-mitzvah-circuit-to-broadway/ |access-date=June 1, 2023}}</ref> * [[Ezra Furman]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rockart |first=Ella |date=September 1, 2021 |title=Ezra Furman has sung about God in her indie rock. Now she's going to rabbinical school. |url=https://www.jta.org/2021/09/01/culture/ezra-furman-has-sung-about-god-in-her-indie-rock-now-shes-going-to-rabbinical-school |access-date=June 1, 2023 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 5, 2022 |title=Ezra Furman's new song is inspired by her experience 'as a Jew and as a trans woman' |url=https://forward.com/fast-forward/484987/ezra-furman-book-of-our-names-song-trans-jew/ |access-date=June 1, 2023 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref> * [[Jimmy Carter]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kampeas |first=Ron |date=December 23, 2009 |title=Carter: Grandson's race not reason enough to apologize |url=https://www.jta.org/2009/12/23/politics/carter-grandsons-race-not-reason-enough-to-apologize |access-date=June 1, 2023 |publisher=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=James |first=Frank |date=December 23, 2009 |title=Jimmy Carter Apologizes For Criticizing Israel |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2009/12/jimmy_carter_apologizes_for_cr.html |access-date=June 1, 2023 |publisher=NPR}}</ref>
== Awards == In 2021, JTA received ten [[Simon Rockower Award|Simon Rockower Awards]], and 16 Rockower Awards in 2022, including eight first places.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2021 Competition |publisher=American Jewish Press Association |url=https://www.ajpa.org/2021-Competition-Winners |access-date=October 5, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2022 Competition |publisher=American Jewish Press Association |url=https://www.ajpa.org/page-18159 |access-date=October 5, 2023}}</ref> In 2023, the magazine won 20 Rockower Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 11, 2023 |title=2023 Awards (for work done in 2022) |url=https://www.ajpa.org/resources/2023%20Conference/2023%20Winners%20List%20-%20Final.pdf |access-date=October 5, 2023 |publisher=American Jewish Press Association}}</ref>
==See also== * [[Institute for Nonprofit News]] (member) * [[Morris Iushewitz]] * [[Jewish Insider]] * ''[[The Jewish Week]]''
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{Official}}
{{Organized Jewish Life in the United States}} {{Authority control}} [[Category:Jewish mass media]] [[Category:News agencies based in the United States]] [[Category:Mass media companies of the United States]] [[Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York City]] [[Category:Mass media companies established in 1917]] [[Category:1917 establishments in the Netherlands]]